Welcome to Windows 7 Forums. Our forum is dedicated to helping you find support and solutions for any problems regarding your Windows 7 PC be it Dell, HP, Acer, Asus or a custom build. We also provide an extensive Windows 7 tutorial section that covers a wide range of tips and tricks.

Windows 7: Random black screen while gaming and then crash.

So I just upgraded from a GTX 550 TI to a GTX 980 and since upgrading my computer will crash after 5-15 minutes of playing any game. The screen will go black and ill be able to hear some audio for a short period of time before it turns into a loud buzzing sound and then the computer resets. As soon as I log back in it gives me the "Windows Has Recovered From An Unexpected Shutdown" dialog. I tried several different fixes, I reinstalled all my drivers (doing a clean install), I've made sure they are the most recent version, I've replaced and tested the RAM (went and bought new RAM and tried playing with it, still crashes). I've taken the 980 out and put the 550 TI back in and tried to play the same games, no crashes whatsoever on the 550 TI. As soon as I put the 980 back in, crashes resume. I've tried a non-destructive reinstall of Windows 7.
And after a month of trying everything I can possibly find on it, I RMAed the card assuming it was a bad card. I finally got the replacement card from NewEgg just last week, and the first game I tried to play it did the same exact crash.
I figured it had to be some kind of driver issue, that somehow some old driver or something was still hiding somewhere on my install, so I did a completely fresh install, formatted the drive, and tried again.
Borderlands 2 went for 67 minutes before I decided to quit playing, and Call of Duty Ghosts went for ~30 minutes before crashing with the black screen and then resetting.

I've looked around and done a bit of research and another possibility I've heard of is that it could be a bad PSU? I don't think it's that the PSU doesn't have enough power, I've checked several PSU calculator sites to make sure and all of them say I could even make it by with a 400W

It's more than likely that one has an even lesser 12V amperage than their newer series. So to figure how much wattage you actually need, use this. Be as specific as possible and don't forget to factor in capacitor aging as well (20-30% for a couple to few years). When in doubt, shoot for 750-850W (especially if you have any plans to upgrade your CPU later). 600W is now next to bare minimum for higher-end hardware. I would also have to recommend you aim for a higher-rated one. I stick to no less than 4-5 star end-user reviews no matter what, not just the technical specifications (really, most tech specs on PSU's are pure marketing if they don't have CE's to back it up). Also note that DiabkoTek's have a passive PFC; you really want an active PFC. Otherwise, you also want the new PSU to have a slightly greater than 42A on the 12V rail (I also always like to aim slightly greater than bare minimum requirements - better future-proofing). That amperage is just, if not even more, important than the overall wattage. And, sticking to a single 12V rail is also important IMO. You're welcome.

Black screen and crash at seemingly random occasions. Event ID 41Hello All,
I have recently got myself an upgrade at the end of May, and I've been getting weird black screen crashes since. Event ID 41, Task 63, Keywords 0x8000000000000002
So far, I have no reliable ways to reproduce the issue. But it occurs rather consistently when I am doing either the...

BSOD Help and Support

Crash when gaming. Screen goes black, pc resets, error: 1000007eHey.
I have had some problems with my computer lately. When I`m gaming (All types) my pc will suddenly crash (No BSOD, just black screen), then reset and show the error code 1000007e. I`ve run malware scans, and an SFC scan. The SFC scan said it fixed something, but I dont know what and the...

General Discussion

Random Black screen and crashHello everyone,
I have been experiencing random crashes on my newly built pc, and so far, every atempt I've made at trying to find a solution have failed.
At first, it seems to be quite random, but some program seem to make it crash every time I use them.
The symptoms are as follows:...

BSOD Help and Support

Crash to black screen during gaming.greetings over the last 2 days I have crashed to black screen 3 or 4 times. no blue. almost seems like it tries to reboot but it doesnt. how can i figure out whats up. I suspect video drivers but I have updated them due to this machine only being 2 days old.

BSOD Help and Support

black screen hard lock crash during fullscreen gamingThis only seems to happen when playing games in fullscreen widescreen mode 720p, if I run them windowed in the same resolution no black screen hard lock. I have tried swapping video cards. I have reinstalled windows. I have updated bios. I have tried different driver versions for vid card. Ran...